A Twist in Fate
by sakurademonalchemist
Summary: After a break in at their home, the Tsukino family move to the Elemental areas to start anew. Usagi, determined never to feel helpless like that again, decides to become a ninja at the age of 6. It's at the academy that she meets...Itachi? How will her different upbringing change the way history moves? Can she handle being a princess and a kunoichi? WILL BE OOC! You were warned!
1. Chapter 1

It all started with the most simple of things. One event that would change the world...and that of the worlds around it.

That event...was a break in.

The Tsukino family lived in one of the more well protected neighborhoods where the cops patrolled at least once an hour, even if it was only off duty. However that day their idea of safety was shattered so thoroughly that something in the family changed.

Usagi was barely six when it happened, and her baby brother had just been born a few months previous. The family had been out at the time, but the devastation they found when they returned home stuck in her mind for months after.

So when the patriarch of the family found a mysterious flier for a large village where break ins were not only stopped but prevented by an elite force of fighters...

Well, the family made all the arrangements in less than a year and moved to a place called Konoha. For some reason the flier went missing as soon as the family left Tokyo...not that they were aware of that fact since the daughter had accidentally left it on the table right as they left their home.

And so the winds of fate began to turn into two different directions.

* * *

Usagi watched in awe as the shinobi jumped from roof to roof. She was so impressed that she convinced her family to let her enroll in the ninja academy. It was there that she first met Itachi.

Itachi was a bit of a loner, and he was soon to be an older brother. Unfortunately, his looks combined with his clan and attitude created a large horde of fan girls after him. Or would as soon as he got a little bit older.

So when he saw Usagi come sit next to him, he was understandably wary about the event.

"Hi! My name's Tsukino Usagi! Want to be friends?" she asked with a cheerful chirp.

"I've told you lot at least a dozen times, I don't like fan girls," he said irritated.

She cocked her head, the dango styled hair moving with her, and said "Who said anything about that? I just wanted to be your friend!"

Itachi took a good long look at the cheerful blond who could put an Yamanaka to shame with the color. While she did appear to be one of his fan girl horde initially, closer inspection proved her to be telling the truth. She showed none of the other signs he had of the other girls. Plus there was this odd energy that kept spilling off her in waves.

His mind took all of this in in less than a minute. He slowly raised his hand and she shook it with a smile. For the first time since joining the academy, Itachi had made an actual friend.

* * *

Usagi jumped, avoiding the practice kunai Itachi was using. Because of an odd quirk, Itachi had learned the hard way that Usagi had a most painful wail that she could and would use if in any true danger. If provoked it tended to rupture ear drums in a three block radius.

Fortunately for him, she never used it around him without giving him a warning first after the initial discovery.

They still high tailed it out of the district they were in when someone came to investigate why all the windows were ruptured and the people were on the ground though.

In what had become the biggest shock of the village (particularly to the rumor mongers) Itachi had struck up an interesting friendship with a girl from a strictly civilian family that had recently moved to Konoha because of an incident in their home. When asked, Usagi told her friend of the break in and the fact that quite a bit of her room and her younger brother's nursery had been rummaged through and disturbed.

It had freaked out her parents so much that the moment they found about Konoha and it's almost nonexistent crime rate (mainly because those with any real pickpocketing and break in skills were good enough not to get caught in a bloody shinobi village while those who weren't got taken in rather quickly) they decided to move.

For some odd reason, Itachi felt the need to strangle whoever had caused them to lose their peace of mind...even if the end result was that Usagi had come to their village in the first place.

He could honestly say that she was the only female his age that he willingly allowed around himself or his brother. Of course the speculative looks his mother kept sending his way whenever Usagi came to hang out with him did give him the shivers.

He shook his head. The two went back to training. While Usagi was more into actually being a kunoichi compared to her peers, she did face a serious disadvantage because she came from a primarily civilian background without any warrior heritage.

So she had to train twice as hard just to be able to survive in the field once she became a genin. Fortunately once Itachi managed to get her to only use the 'wail of pain' (that was the nickname he gave her odd ability) during missions _outside_ the village, he had been able to get her up to par with most of the classmates.

Though in an odd quirk of fate, Itachi learned that Usagi didn't really _have_ any elemental affinity...but what she did have was an extremely rare type of chakra that was only seen once in a blue moon.

Usagi possessed the extremely rare Light chakra, something that had baffled Itachi and most of the academy instructors. It opened an entirely new direction for her to use when fighting...but it also meant her abilities would be very limited due to it's rarity.

Luckily for her one of the Uchiha had come across a few people with similar chakra, because Itachi had no issues lending her a few family scrolls no one would be able to use because of that problem.

Itachi could only hoped that they were placed on the same team, because he had graduated a year previous and she was just now about to take the final exam.

* * *

"Tsukino Usagi, Pass!" the instructor called out.

Usagi grinned and walked out to see her parents and Itachi waiting.

"Passed!" she said with a grin.

Two years of training and a lot of practice time with Itachi had caused the girl to go through a bit of a growth spurt...and her skills were good enough that she could claim to be shinobi trained.

That didn't mean she was going to stop training. After watching the Hyuuga and Uchiha in her class surpass her in skill (which she narrowly made up for in book smarts, making her the second best kunoichi in her year to her parent's relief) she swore to never stop training except for vacations.

Itachi smiled at her, and she was proud to say that she had done what many had claimed was impossible.

She had somehow managed to remove the stick from the ass of an Uchiha. The heir of the clan no less! It was part of the reason the instructors called her an unstoppable force of nature when it came to converting almost any enemy force.

Fortunately for her parents, Usagi had no desire to join the seduction corps.

* * *

It had been a year since taking the true final genin exam, and Usagi could honestly say that she had improved in leaps and bounds. For starters Itachi was on her team (mostly as a secondary instructor since he was a chunin) and because of her personality the three had just barely passed.

No one could say no to her puppy dog eyes when it came down to it. And she had perfected that on Itachi years ago.

The longer she stayed around Itachi, the stronger she got. Her genjutsu was shoddy, her chakra control was very good, but her taijutsu just barely kept from being labeled poorly.

Strangely enough, her ninjutsu was almost second to none on her team.

Since she was the youngest on the team barring Itachi, they rarely left the village for missions. Aside from a few random D ranks (one involving a certain feline who shall not be named but may very well be a descendant of the two tailed demon cat...which has killed any desire Usagi had for felines as pets) they mostly improved on their skills.

Usagi in particular since she had yet to find her niche.

Usagi turned to Itachi with a grin and casually asked when he would be bringing Sasuke with him to supper. The stoic boy had become something of a familiar face in the Tsukino house, and there was no doubt in the minds of the parents (both sets) that the two were on the fast track to being a couple once they hit puberty.

"I will be there around seven. Think your mother will be making that tomato dish again? Sasuke really seemed to love it."

"Probably. I asked what we were having and she mentioned spaghetti."

Itachi grinned. He rather liked the western dish. Then again he had something of a secret addiction to noodles. His sweet tooth was well known, the noodle issue wasn't.

* * *

Sasuke kicked at his chair while his brother tiredly kept him from irritating their hosts. It was something of a joke between him and Usagi that the two younger siblings got along as well as they did.

Usagi got the boy to finally sit still with a look she had patented for use on her younger brother.

Itachi hid a grin at that.

"Dinner's ready!" said Usagi's mother.

By the time the food was devoured (with a lot of extra sauce for Sasuke, who had already developed a love for tomatoes) the older children went to discuss jutsu and tactics while the two younger were allowed to watch TV for a while before they had to go to bed.

"So if we do this here..."

"Bigger boom."

Usagi grinned. It had come as a real shock to Itachi to learn his best friend was something of a pyro like most of the Uchiha. She was also a budding seal mistress, which he learned quite by accident while teaching her how to make explosive tags.

_Two hours later..._

While Itachi took his brother home, he paused when he heard crying. The owner of that voice couldn't be more than the same age as Sasuke.

He cautiously walked towards the sound...and found a small child barely Sasuke's age with bright blond hair that resembled Usagi's own. But it wasn't until he recognized the trademark whisker marks that he realized who the kid was.

Naruto Uzumaki, the child almost unanimously hated by the entire village. Why, he had absolutely _no_ fricken idea. But it was clear that the orphanage had kicked out a five year old child and that annoyed him greatly.

Sasuke shifted on him, and Itachi decided to cheat. He made a shadow clone (one of the rare techniques he had successfully blackmailed out of Kakashi by threatening to send Usagi after him with her wail...) and had the clone take Naruto to the one place he would be protected and actually loved.

While almost the entirety of the civilian population hated the boy, there was one family that wouldn't.

The clone took Naruto (who was soothed to sleep by the rocking motion) straight to the Tsukino family. He knew for a fact the parents were still awake. Usagi might be as well, if he knew her.

"Hello? Itachi, who is that?" asked Ikuko. She saw the bruises on the child's face.

"His name is Naruto from what I remember. I found him on the way back home crying. As far as I know he doesn't have any parents and he's the same age as Sasuke. I couldn't leave him outside in the middle of the night for who knows how long."

"And where is your brother?"

"The real Itachi is currently taking him back to the compound. He couldn't carry both boys and for some reason the Uchiha and a good portion of the civilians don't like Naruto at all."

She frowned at that, but picked the boy up with ease. The clone dispelled, and she went to doing what she could for his wounds.

She would bring this up with the Hokage the next time she saw him at that charming ramen stand he frequented.

* * *

To the shock of Usagi's mother, the Hokage _was_ aware of the fact that Naruto wasn't in the orphanage. He was near frantic trying to find the boy!

By the time she left the Hokage's office, a few things had changed.

First off, Naruto had officially been adopted by the Tsukino family...one of the extremely rare civilian families in the village who not only _didn't_ know about his tenant, but had nothing against the boy. Of course by the time the council finally caught wind of the fact that a civilian had adopted the demon container, it would already be too late. Especially since said family had a daughter with an extremely rare affinity and was thus more valuable to the village.

Naruto looked up at the nice lady who had fed him that morning and made sure his wounds were really healed. Ever since her daughter became a kunoichi she had become better at first aid.

Even the daughter was nice to him, which was a first.

She even promised to help him learn a few jutsu once she was back from training!

* * *

Naruto went to the playground with Shingo...and to his surprise he actually _had_ someone to play with him.

The kid threw the ball at Naruto who cheerfully kicked it back. It was easily the most fun he'd had ever...at least until some of the clan kids tried to shoo his new friend away.

Only to find his annoyed older sister running towards them chasing a cat that for some reason absolutely _hated_ him. The moment that cat saw him, an idea popped to mind. He threw a smoke cloud, confusing the clan kids...and reappeared right behind them. Without warning the kids started yelling because of the claws the cat had.

By the time Usagi caught up to the two, Tora was dealing with the bullies.

"What's going on here?" demanded one of the mothers.

"I'm sorry ma'am, but Tora decided to attack them for some reason," said Usagi.

She discreetly hid Naruto behind her, and the boy wisely kept quiet. As a safety precaution she grabbed Tora by the neck and managed to get both boys away from the park before anyone realized the blond boy was behind her.

She had seen the looks, but she had never actually paid attention to the kid. After coming across him being over charged and then kicked out for no reason other than the fact he couldn't pay the large prices, she had decided to treat the kid like she did her own brother.

"You two alright?"

"We're fine Usagi-nee-chan! They always show up whenever it looks like someone is willing to play with me..." said Naruto.

Something about the way he said that made her angry. Angry enough to actually strangle someone, which was highly unusual. She was normally the voice of reason in her team. Even Itachi calmed down when she was around, and he was more level headed than she was.

"If they try to do that again, let me know. As soon as I learn where they live they'll be in for a nasty surprise..." she said darkly.

Seeing the confusion on Naruto's face, Shingo explained.

"Sis has this nasty trick where she can blow out the windows just with her voice."

"Ah, like Council woman Haruno then," said Naruto sagely.

"Unlike her I try not to blow everyone's hearing away simply because I find something offensive," she sniffed annoyed.

Naruto snickered.

* * *

Iruka stared at the paper in his hand.

"Naruto Uzumaki-Tsukino?"

"Just Tsukino," grinned the boy.

"I thought there was going to be another boy," said Mizuki.

"Nah. Shingo heard about the fact that new genin hafta chase after that evil cat and decided against it," grinned Naruto.

Iruka didn't think twice about that. It was a fact that new genin were stuck doing D ranks for at least six months...and that included chasing after Tora the evil cat demon that belonged to the Fire Daimyo's wife.

"Alright then...Naruto _Tsukino_?" he continued with roll call.

"Here!" said Naruto waving his hand up in the air.

"Sasuke Uchiha?"

"Here!"

Iruka continued until he got to the bottom, and then started class. Ever since Naruto had officially been adopted by the newest civilian family, he had been smiling a lot more often. And not the fake ones that Iruka saw on his face so often either.

* * *

Iruka hid a grin as he watched the boy finally making actual friends. Ever since Naruto had been adopted by the Tsukino family (and by extension the Uchiha once Itachi and Usagi were finally old enough) Naruto had been making friends.

Mostly because Sasuke viewed him another brother.

"Neh, Naruto-kun, what's Ikuko-san making tonight?" asked Sasuke.

"Well, since it's pretty obvious you and Itachi-nii are coming... Something with tomatoes! Though it might just be a salad with tomatoes and something else..." said Naruto.

"Either way, tomatoes!" cheered Sasuke.

"What a drag," said Shikamaru.

"Is your new mom a good cook?" asked Chouji.

"As good as old man Ichiraku! I think she borrowed one of his recipes because she makes awesome ramen!" said Naruto.

"Any chance you could invite us over some time, Naruto?"

"I'll have to ask Ikuko-kaa-san first," said Naruto.

"Any way, have you seen the way Itachi-nii looks at Usagi-nee-chan?" grinned Sasuke.

"Yeah, they're practically dating already!" grinned Naruto.


	2. Chapter 2

_*For those of you who are wondering, Usagi is a year younger than Itachi. Naruto, Shingo (Sammy in the American dub) and Sasuke are all five years younger than Itachi. Which would make their ages 13 (Itachi), 12 (Usagi) and 7 (Sasuke, Shingo, Naruto)._

_And now, onto the story._

* * *

It all happened so fast. Usagi was sitting next to Itachi when the ANBU showed up.

"Is Uchiha Itachi here?" asked the cat ANBU.

"Is there a problem Neko-san?" asked Itachi.

"Have you been here the entire evening?" she asked.

"Ano...Itachi-kun has been here helping Kaa-chan keep an eye on us while Usagi-nee reads her scrolls. He hasn't left once," said Naruto raising his hand.

"Are you absolutely sure of this? He hasn't made any shadow clones?"

"Ikuko-san has explicitly banned any jutsu inside the house. Why are you asking?" asked Itachi, a pit of apprehension growing.

"Itachi Uchiha, we will need you to come to the T/I department. There has been an incident."

"...Ikuko-san, can Sasuke stay here until I find out what's going on?"

"Sure."

"Wait, I'm coming with you! I'm not going to allow my best friend walk into that place alone!" said Usagi quickly.

"Fine. Come with me please."

* * *

"Uchiha Itachi. We have a report that claims you were seen inside the Uchiha compound during the attack. Someone spotted you in full ANBU gear running away with a bloody sword. Do you deny this?" asked Anko.

"I have not been to the compound since I left with Sasuke this morning. Tsukino-san has been with me practically the entire day."

"Itachi...did you murder your clan precisely three hours ago?" asked Anko calmly.

"No."

"We'll speak to Tsukino to confirm your alibi, but it doesn't look good."

"If I might point out...all my ANBU gear is still in my room along with my sword. I don't have any storage scrolls on me with a backup set. You can go into my room to confirm it..."

Anko nodded to the mirror, and one of the ANBU outside went to locate the gear. If it was in fact where Itachi said it was, it would definitely lend credibility to his claim. Itachi had to get specially made gear because he was smaller than the average ANBU agent. And he had only one set.

Someone entered the room, wearing a boar mask.

"Anko, his claim is true. His gear is still in the compound and there is no blood on it," he said.

"And the sword?"

"Next to the gear and no stains. It does not appear to have been drawn at all for at least a week."

"Someone talk to the dango girl!" said Anko.

* * *

"Tsukino Usagi. Itachi claims to have been with you for the entirety of the day. Did you see him at any point create a clone?"

"No. Itachi was helping me perfect a new jutsu after I met up with him at the academy. We spent most of the day in training field 13, and he never used clones once. We didn't stop until supper..." she said.

"Will you consent to Inoichi double checking that information?"

"If it means clearing him, yes!" she said.

Inoichi was quick to use his jutsu on her...and found something bizarre.

He had seen many inner minds before...but her's took the cake.

It was a palace that overlooked the Earth. The palace itself was beautiful...and it was quiet.

"_Who are you?"_

Inoichi turned to find a beautiful and sad woman with lavender colored hair in the same style as the girls...in an expensive dress. She seemed surprised about something.

"Excuse me, perhaps you can help. I am trying to confirm her testimony regarding her friend."

"_I see. You wish to insure that an innocent man does not die for a crime he didn't commit. Very well, I will allow you to access her memories."_

"...If I may ask, who are you?"

"_My name...is Queen Serenity. The people of Earth once called me Selene...though you may call me the Moon Goddess who once ruled alongside Ametarasu."_

Inoichi's eyes were wide. The woman who resided in the girl's mind was the Moon Goddess?

"Why are you in this girl's mind?"

"_...1,000 years ago there was an attack and this very palace was destroyed in a single night. In order to save my daughter I sent her into the future to try and live out her life on Earth. I safeguard her mind to keep those who would use her away."_

Inoichi decided to drop it. It was clear there was more to the girl than even she knew, but he was pressed for time. He quickly located the most recent memories and watched them carefully.

The Queen made sure he only looked at the ones he needed, a silent guardian.

Inoichi came out of the girl's mind with more questions than answers, but at least he could confirm one thing.

Itachi Uchiha was _not_ responsible for the massacre of his clan.

* * *

Itachi planned to take the blame and hunt down the one's responsible for his clan's demise. Unfortunately, he didn't count on one thing.

Usagi wouldn't let him go. The moment Itachi even brought up the idea in the silent training field, she gave all the warning signs of her most devastating attack.

The wail of pain.

Itachi barely covered his ears in time to save his hearing...and his balance. Which was why he wasn't able to stop her from giving him the hardest slap to the face.

"What the hell are you thinking?! Do you have any idea what would happen if you left now? How do you think your brother would take it?"

"I must find the one who did this to protect him."

"And what of the example you'll leave for Sasuke! Do you have any idea what he might do if you left now of all times? He's always trying to catch up to you! The moment you place revenge before your friends and family is the moment you've lost yourself!" she shouted at him.

Itachi flinched as if stung. He hadn't considered what would happen if he chased after the killer. Usagi was right.

He had seen people who devoted themselves to revenge. It never ended well.

He slowly stood up, and pretended not to notice the way Usagi watched him like a hawk.

"Fine...but if I ever run across the bastard on the field don't expect me not to kill him."

"Fair enough," she chirped.

"NII-SAN!" yelled a blue blur as Sasuke barreled into his brother.

"OOMPH!" grunted Itachi, falling over as his brother tackled him hard.

"Nii-san, don't go! I don't want to loose you too!" cried Sasuke.

Itachi glared at his friend who whistled innocently as Sasuke proceeded to get a death grip on his brother.

"Sasuke...who told you where we were going?" asked Itachi calmly, trying to breathe.

"Usagi-nee said you were going to do something stupid and that I had to come so that you wouldn't leave!" said Sasuke.

"Usagi convinced me not to leave," Itachi said neutrally.

Sasuke stared at the girl who was grinning with a victory sign.

"Arigato, Usagi-nee!"

* * *

"What happened to all the Uchiha?"

"I heard that some mystery assailant killed all but the two clan heirs."

"I'm surprised the older one didn't leave to get revenge!"

"From what I understand, it was the Tsukino girl who stopped him."

"What's going to happen to the heirs?"

"Don't know."

Itachi calmly put his foot down in the council room. They had appeared to decide where the two would be living from now on since the compound was declare uninhabitable after the attack.

"Enough," Itachi's voice rang clear through the clamor. The entire room had been filled with people eager to take in the brothers.

Everyone paused and looked at Itachi. Sasuke was holding his ears from the noise.

"Aniki..."

"Your racket has caused enough pain to everyone's hearing. Sasuke and I will stay in the apartments next to the Tsukino family until the compound is liveable again. We have already received permission from the landlord," Itachi told them calmly.

"Nonsense!" cried councilwoman Haruno.

"By village law, anyone of chunin rank or above who is in the ANBU can be declared an adult if they have participated in at least three A rank missions or one S rank. And I have already fulfilled that requirement. I will not allow you to split apart what is left of my clan for your petty greed," said Itachi coldly.

The Inuzaku leader grinned wildly.

"Well said, for a pup!" she declared.

"Very well. Itachi, I'll bring you the paperwork later," said Sarutobi.

Sasuke walked away with his brother. Neither of them paid any mind to the commotion that was left behind them.

"Hokage-sama, you can't...!" started one of the civilian council members.

"Itachi was correct. The village by-law does allow for any shinobi of at least chunin rank that has participated in 3 A rank missions to be declared an adult. It was set in place by the Second Hokage during the Second Great war."

That shut up most of the people there. Out of the people who wanted to split the brothers up, only a few shinobi had been impressed by Itachi's trick.

The Nara, Yamanaka, Inuzuka and Aburame had all shown up and had been impressed. Most of them simply wanted to see what Itachi would do in this situation. Inoichi only showed to see whether or not Itachi would move in with the Tsukino family.

* * *

"Itachi-nii, your apartment looks like a strawberry cake," said Naruto flatly.

"It does not!" said Sasuke.

"Then what does it look like to you?"

"...A strawberry cake..."

"Hah! Told ya!" said Naruto smugly.

"Naruto, if you don't quiet down I won't show you how to do the shadow clone later."

Naruto shut his mouth quickly. Itachi had noted with interest that he had large reserves, but his control was so shoddy that it made doing most of the standard jutsu near impossible. So Itachi was going to show Naruto another type of clone in the hopes that the boy would pick that up instead.

* * *

In the span of three years, a few things had changed.

Itachi was no longer in the ANBU, having retired a year after the massacre. That was mostly due to Usagi having a word with the one in charge of that division. She had noted his tendency to take missions far from Konoha and had correctly guessed that he was trying to find the culprit.

So he was quietly asked to leave the division until his mental state was more stable. Itachi took the hint well enough.

Naruto and Sasuke were practically inseparable, acting more like brothers than friends. As a result, Naruto helped the boy escape his fangirl horde quite often, to Itachi and Usagi's amusement.

Usagi had made chunin two years after the incident, and was on the fast track to reaching Itachi's rank. She had become an accomplished seal mistress, often creating new ones on the fly during battle.

She had even earned a nickname in the bingo books, to Itachi's amusement.

Konoha's Siren of the Seal. A most fitting name for a girl who could uproot large trees with only her voice.

Everything was progressing at a pace that the couple were satisfied with. Usagi had long since gotten rid of Itachi's fan girls when they officially starting dating.

And then...the attacks started.

* * *

"Rabbit to Cat, what's your progress?"

"_These things fight like demons! I've never seen the like!"_ said Yuugao.

Usagi hid back a growl. These creatures had started appearing a month after her fifteenth birthday, and had attacked many civilians. She most certainly didn't expect her first missions as an ANBU to be like this!

"Are the civilians safe?"

"_They're stable, but their chakra has been drained to dangerous levels."_

"...!"

"_Rabbit, what's happening on your end?!" _asked Yuugao with alarm.

Usagi used her wail to force the demon creatures to their knees while her sword ended them.

And then more showed up. She watched with horror as the creatures bypassed her back up and went straight for her.

"Cat, I think these things are targeting me specifically!" she said in shock.

"_Are you sure?"_

"They completely bypassed my teammate who was right next to me!"

Yuugao arrived in time to see Usagi use on of her jutsu to kill the demon.

"Is that the last of them?"

"I think so. Why did it ignore Boar? He has more chakra than I do!"

"Oi!"

"Perhaps it went after you because of your chakra nature?"

"I don't know, but those things seemed to target me specifically. They stopped attacking the civilians and came straight for me!"

"This is troubling. In the meantime lets get these civilians to the hospital."

"Hai, Neko-taicho!" said Usagi.

* * *

"You say these creatures came after Rabbit specifically?"

"Hai, Hokage-sama. Rabbit said that they stopped their attacks on the nearby civilians to go after her and ignored her back up completely."

"This is troubling. We have received numerous reports that these creatures have appeared in even greater numbers in the area Rabbit came from. Perhaps there's a clue there."

"Hokage-sama, you mean to tell me that these things are in Tokyo?" asked Usagi in concern.

"I have been keeping an eye on that area since your family came here, Rabbit. I want you to come here in two days at 3, Rabbit."

"Hai, Hokage-sama!"

"Rabbit, I have a special mission for you. I want you to go to Tokyo and see if you can find the source of these creatures. You may take one other with you, but this mission is labeled an S rank. Am I clear?"

"Hai, Hokage-sama. How long am I going to be gone?"

"Until you locate and destroy the source of these creatures, Rabbit. If you require back up, do not hesitate to send for it."

"Hai, Hokage-sama."

"Say hello to Itachi for me, will you?" said Sarutobi amused.

Rabbit grinned behind her mask. This was going to be a very long mission.

* * *

Usagi took a deep breath of air as soon as they stepped foot in Tokyo. Itachi had never been outside the Elemental areas, so this was his first time. He wasn't impressed with the technology.

"The air reeks," he said flatly.

Both of them were under henge, and they were about to establish a base of operations.

"This is your old house?" asked Itachi.

"Yeah. Looks like no one has bought it."

"Didn't your parents give you the number of their old bank account when you told them where we were going?"

"Yeah. Dad said since I was heading back I could use it and the house to save expenses. Mostly because he wasn't aware that the Elemental areas used different currency and it was too expensive to change what he had. He kept the house deed since no one was interested in it."

"Hn."

"None of that monosyllable stuff mister! I didn't spend all that time getting you to talk like a normal person for you to revert to that!" said Usagi.

"Gomen...however...something is odd about this place."

"Eh?"

"The air...no, the very energy of this city is different. And I don't think it's electricity either," said Itachi.

Usagi paused, and then she realized what she meant. There was some odd energy around the entire city.

"So, what are you going to do?"

"First off, we are going to use our shadow clones to infiltrate the schools. Something tells me we'll learn more if we have our clones pretend to be civilians," said Usagi.

"Right. So split up and return here?"

"If you get lost I'll leave a seal behind the gate. Just trace the chakra signature back here."

"Got it."

* * *

Usagi's first stop was the game center. She had felt an odd energy signature from there earlier.

"Eh? Usagi-chan?" said the boy behind the counter.

"Ano...Motoki-san?" said Usagi. She barely remembered the nice boy.

"How have you been, Usagi-chan? I haven't seen you since your family moved," said Motoki. (*Andrew in the English dub)

"I've been doing great! I'm going to be here for a little while, but don't be surprised if I drop by occasionally with my boyfriend!" she said cheerfully.

"Oh? You have a boyfriend now?"

"Yeah. Maybe next time you could meet him!" said Usagi.

Motoki smiled, as the two chatted. Usagi carefully kept the fact that she had become a ninja a secret.


	3. Chapter 3

Itachi was somewhat horrified by the memories of his clone after the first day. Somehow Usagi had managed to get the two of them into the same middle school and class.

And in less than an hour, Itachi had created an entirely new horde of fan girls. Fortunately Usagi had staked her claim within mere minutes of their creation.

Meanwhile, as their clones infiltrated the school, the real Usagi and Itachi were meeting at the Game Center trying to find the source of the strange energy.

Usagi, in a fit of boredom, started to play the new Sailor V game. Within minutes she had managed to get the high score. The game wasn't any match for her shinobi reflexes.

She typed in the name Rabbit...and to her surprise two items popped out of the machine.

A pen and a locket. The pen was flashy and had a strange jewel at the top. The locket was in the shape of five circles, one big and four small. It was releasing some sort of odd energy.

Itachi noticed with some surprise that the light chakra that always spilled out of Usagi (the older she got, the more it spilled out for some reason) was suddenly sucked into the locket.

"Usagi, would you mind if I gave that game a try?" he asked.

"Eh? Sure. Try and beat my high score!" she said with a grin.

Within minutes Itachi soon had reached and then beaten her score. Suddenly they heard a clanging sound from inside the machine, and what appeared to be a small ninjato came out. Itachi quickly hid the sword under a minor genjutsu to keep people from being alarmed.

Once they left the arcade, Itachi waited until they returned to the house before he confronted his girlfriend.

"Usagi, your chakra..."

"What about it? Don't tell me it's gotten worse!" she said in annoyance.

"No. The chakra that was spilling out is being sucked into that locket you got from the machine," said Itachi.

"Nani?!"

Usagi took out the locket and was shocked to find it glowing. She looked at him.

"I received a sword...though I am unaware of what it's abilities are."

"Why don't we find out?"

Itachi took out the sword...and tried channeling chakra through it. To his surprise, the sword suddenly grew until it fit neatly in his hand. The edge was a vibrant red color, signifying that it was pulling his elemental affinity out of his chakra. From what he could tell, the sword could channel fire without damage.

"That sword suits you, Itachi-kun," said Usagi.

Itachi tested it's balance. It was perfect in his hands. The edge was razor sharp, and it channeled chakra better than most weapons.

It was the perfect shinobi tool. So why did it come out of a civilian controlled machine that was primarily for entertainment? Why did it fit so naturally in his hands?

Usagi tilted her head as the memories of the day came in.

"It seems something is amiss in the jewelry store run by Naru's mother," she said.

"That energy drain was disturbingly similar to the ones we've seen in the outlying areas."

"We hit that store tonight," said Usagi.

"Agreed," said Itachi.

"In the meantime, I'll go shopping for supper," said Usagi.

* * *

Usagi paused on her way back from the store when she saw a group of kids terrorizing a poor cat. They had placed bandages on it's head, and she knew it would probably hurt the feline to remove them.

"Hey now, what are you doing to that cat?" she called out.

"It's an adult! Run!"

The three kids scattered.

Usagi knelt down and carefully removed the bandages. She didn't bother to pick up the cat, since she had been on far too many missions to retrieve Tora to be fond of them.

"I'd be careful of the kids in this neighborhood kitty cat," she said quietly. She picked up the bag and headed home.

The cat's eyes light up as it recognized the energy signature as that of a senshi. It quickly followed the girl back to her home, and was surprised to see a strange knife thrown at her.

"Usagi, you were followed."

"By a cat," she replied.

"That is not a normal cat. It's chakra is more akin to a nin animal," said the boy flatly.

"Hmm...you're right. So little kitty can you talk or will we just have to find your owner the old fashioned way?"

"Who are you two?" asked the cat.

"My name is Tsukino Usagi," said the girl.

"Uchiha Itachi."

"How did you know I wasn't a normal cat?" asked Luna. Most people didn't even pay her any mind once they noticed her unusual markings.

"Your chakra signature is too strong for a normal cat," said Itachi.

"And normal cats don't follow someone home, unless they are sure they can get free food," Usagi commented dryly.

"So, Ms. Cat, who is your owner? And do make it quick, we have something to do tonight," said Itachi.

Luna sweated as Itachi let loose his killing intent on her. She quickly explained the situation about the youma and the fact that she was searching for the specific girls to defeat them.

"So...those creatures are called youma. At least we know we came to the right place," said Itachi.

"I'll get dinner started while you deal with the cat," said Usagi.

"Deal."

* * *

Luna was absolutely shocked that one of the senshi she was supposed to find was so...militaristic. Usagi Tsukino was definitely one of the girls that were reincarnated, but she didn't want anything to do with the return of the Moon Kingdom. Finding out that she had managed to win the locket that belonged to the leader of the senshi was not comforting.

Her...bodyguard (she couldn't imagine Usagi living with her boyfriend) was more disturbing. His eyes were as cold as ice, and his personality was just as hard. Plus there was the fact that he was interrogating her without qualms.

Somehow she got the feeling that if he had to, he would torture her without a second thought. She was quite eager to leave, once she could get Usagi to join the senshi...however even that was derailed once the two created two doppelgangers to keep an eye on her while they went to deal with something.

Usagi and Itachi barely cared that Luna followed them to the jewelry store where Luna had noted a youma was taking root.

She watched in shock as the two quickly destroyed the youma and rescued the civilians...all without transforming.

"Those two...who exactly are they?" said Luna as she vanished. The clones dispelled, and the two shinobi returned to base, unaware that the two watchers would be a bigger nuisance later.

* * *

Usagi had split up with Itachi, having just barely caught the youma's energy signature earlier. If she lost it now there was no telling when it would pop back up.

Without warning all the civilians started acting like zombies, and she was grabbed. Since she didn't want to blow her cover or kill innocents, she reluctantly allowed them to take her to the creature.

She was a bit surprised that there was another person unaffected by the youma's genjutsu. Ami Mizuno, the smartest girl in the school Usagi had infiltrated.

Right as the youma was about to attack her, Usagi was struck by a strange urge. It was so compelling that she was forced to go through with it.

"Moon Prism Power, Make Up!" she cried.

The locket which she had started to carry with her (mostly because it kept her chakra from spilling out all over the place) lit up like a star as she felt her body undergo a transformation.

When she came to, she was wearing what appeared to be a sailor suit not unlike what she wore to the school, only the skirt was much shorter. It almost felt like armor!

For some reason, she felt herself saying things that she normally would never think of...it was like she couldn't control her own body!

Ami use a pen not too dissimilar to the one she had and turned into another girl wearing a similar outfit, only the primary color was blue.

Usagi was quick to return to the house, and she was badly shaken.

"Usagi, what happened? I felt an energy surge..." started Itachi.

He stared in shock as Usagi trembled, the locket falling from her hands.

"What is going on?" he asked gently. He had never seen her so shaken up.

"Itachi...I think something is wrong with this locket."

The moment he touched it, he felt the residual chakra. Usagi told him everything from the moment she followed the youma to the point where she lost control of her body. Something wasn't right at all!

* * *

A few days later, Usagi went to the local shrine to ask the gods what to do. Itachi followed her, worried about the reaction she had to the entire incident with the locket.

Usagi had locked the thing under a seal to keep it as far away from her as possible, and her chakra was only just now returning to the point she had it at. Even under a seal, the locket was absorbing the energy she let off.

As soon as she stepped past the torii, she felt something flying at her with a low level energy signature. She couldn't dodge it in time...and was surprised to find a poorly made seal designed to harm demons attached to her forehead.

The energy in the seal clashed with her own, causing her to pass out.

The miko realized her mistake and removed it rather quickly.

"I am so sorry! It's just that I felt a weird signature and with all that has happened recently..." she started.

"Calm down. What has been happening recently?" asked Itachi, helping Usagi up.

"Several patrons of the shrine have gone missing lately. It's always at the bus stop at 6:00."

Itachi shared a look with Usagi. This sounded far too much like another youma attack. Though it was certainly more sophisticated than the usual variety.

It wasn't until Usagi noticed a certain feline that she scowled. She was really, _really _starting to hate cats. Normally she liked animals, but after dealing with Tora and the ever annoying, smug, holier-than-thou Luna...well, you do the math.

She was seriously starting to consider buying a dog...or agreeing to sign that contract to summon kitsune like that strange fox she saw in her dreams had suggested.

Though why she kept seeing a fox bigger than the Hokage mountain made of blood red chakra and red eyes she had no idea. Nor why it was inside a sewer behind bars and a single tag that simply said 'seal'. Though at least that blond man was helpful enough to improve her sealing skills after she almost removed the seal by accident.

* * *

Usagi waited for 6 o'clock to come around near the shrine. She had left the locket at home under a heavy seal in the hopes it wouldn't end up in her pocket again, and Itachi was close by just in case.

The bus appeared, and she noted with some surprise that the miko from before was already on it...except she was asleep for some reason. Itachi turned on his radio, and Usagi made sure hers was on the same frequency.

She stepped onto the bus, and immediately sensed something was wrong.

The man driving was draining chakra faster than the youma she had faced before. Usagi frowned.

She had the oddest record in the ANBU corps. Ten B ranks, 15 C and 5 A ranks...and not a single kill on record. Yes, she had see others kill and it had affected her greatly until she moved on with her life, but she had yet to take a life herself. She incapacitated quite a few and more than once ended the career of another shinobi, but to the surprise of any who knew her, her 'first kill cherry' (as Anko had dubbed it while drunk) had yet to be popped.

And that was a record she would like to keep intact.

Before she could get Rei and debark, the bus started to move. She stumbled, but went to the miko with concern.

"Rei-san, Rei-san wake up!" said Usagi.

She mumbled a bit, before her eyes awoke to the scene before her.

"Usagi...san?"

"We have to get out of here. I don't think that guy is human!"

The driver clearly heard that comment because he laughed cruelly.

"You're right brat. I'm not one of the simpering apes you call humans!" he cackled.

That was the worst possible thing to say to her, because he didn't noticed her eyes glint in the low lighting. He had essentially told her that he wasn't human, making her kill count still zero on a technicality.

He had just signed his death warrant and he didn't even realize it.

"_Rabbit, come in. Where are you?"_

"This is Rabbit. We are currently in some pocket space with hostages. The culprit claims he isn't even human, but I plan to capture him so we can get more answers later. Stand by for instructions," said Rabbit calmly under her breathe. Rei gave her a look for the low tone that she could barely catch, but she wisely said nothing.

Usagi reached into her bag and pulled out what appeared to be a rabbit carnival mask to Rei.

"What are you doing? This isn't the time for dressing up!" Rei hissed.

Usagi smiled, and Rei suddenly felt something else take place in the girl. Something much stronger and more terrifying...should she get in it's way.

She placed the rabbit mask on her face...and she became an entirely different person.

"Mission...Start."

Rabbit leveled a look at the driver.

"Are you the one responsible for all these people being drained?"

"And if I am? What are you going to do about it little girl? Do you really think a mask is going to change a thing?" he sneered.

"Depends on the mask. Can I have a name?"

"I am the Far East Commander Jadeite! I serve the great Queen Beryl!" he declared.

"Good. Now we have a name to the one using those youma creatures in our territory. Far East Commander Jadeite, I'm taking you into custody."

Jadeite cackled cruelly.

"You think those mortal police can keep me in custody! They can't even defend themselves against the youma!" he sneered.

"Wrong police. Weasel, this is Rabbit. I'm going to be coming in hot with a prisoner for Snake. Be sure to warn her that this guy is stronger than he looks," said Rabbit.

"_Understood. Make sure he's still good to talk."_

"You know my record Weasel. I don't kill. That being said...he's going to have a few less limbs when we show up."

"You think you can take me girl?"

Jadeite blinked once, and then it was over. The girl with the rabbit mask had already taken his arm clean off with a sword he didn't know she even had.

"I don't think. I know," she whispered.

She bit her thumb hard enough to draw blood, and before Rei or Jadeite knew what she was doing, she had drawn a seal.

"Fuinjutsu: Seal of the Flying Thunder God!" she called out.

The seal lit up and without warning Jadeite vanished.

"What did you do?!"

"I sent him someplace where he won't bother anyone again. In any case we need to collect the victims and get out of here. Without him nearby this pocket dimension will collapse."

"Who...who are you?"

"ANBU designation Rabbit. I am a chunin of Konohagakure no Sato, and that's all you really need to know."

Usagi and Rei quickly gathered the people who had been captured, and using the light chakra spilling out of Usagi they returned to the hill.

"I take it transport was a success?" asked the Weasel masked boy.

"Snake should be playing with her new toy as we speak."

"Who are you people?" asked Rei.

"We are shinobi, sent here to find the reason behind the youma attacks in our home. We will not harm anyone but the people behind this attacks. If anything we are your allies...senshi-san," said Weasel.

"What?"

"Ask the black cat with the crescent moon. She has been pestering Rabbit for over a week now about her being something called a senshi," said Weasel blandly.

The two vanished before the cops arrived with the ambulances. Weasel had called in and informed them about the missing people showing up at the same bus stop they vanished from.

Rei wisely returned to her shrine...to find the same black cat the Weasel masked boy had mentioned waiting. This was going to be a long night.


	4. Chapter 4

Anko came out of interrogation with the badly broken Jadeite lying on the floor. He had been a wellspring of information that they had needed.

"Well?" asked the Hokage.

"Rabbit delivered a goldmine. According to this guy, who was one of the top commanders, he serves a woman who goes by the name Queen Beryl who is trying to revive an evil that destroyed some kingdom on the Moon 1,000 years ago. From what our researchers say, there might be some credence to that bizarre claim. Inoichi has already mentioned hearing something about it, so it could be true."

"What is their plan?"

"They seek to find some crystal which they say holds unlimited chakra, sort of like the Kyuubi only much, much smaller and less dangerous. This crystal can only be fully unlocked by the missing princess, though they had no idea who she is or what she even looks like."

"Hmm...We need more information before I can order an attack on their base. Did he mention where it was?"

"Some sort of pocket dimension in a land frozen by ice since before time began," she said.

"Very well. We need to inform Weasel and Rabbit about this new info."

"Understood, Hokage-sama. We'll send any commanders we come across your way if we run across them," said Usagi.

"In the meantime, you can take a break for the day before returning to your base," said Sarutobi.

Where the girl found the missing Flying Thunder God seal, he had no idea, but it was dead useful now. The moment she was able to successfully recreate it, the two had been able to go between Tokyo and Konoha in seconds. As a result, getting backup to her became much easier.

Plus it meant that the two boys who relied so heavily on Itachi and Usagi for support wouldn't be so unhappy.

* * *

"Mah, it feels good to be back home!" she said stretching her arms.

"Agreed. Though one would normally think Tokyo was your home town."

"I may have been born there, but Konoha is my home. Anyway, we are about to be tackled in 3, 2, 1..."

"NEE-SAN/NII-SAN!" yelled a pair of voices as the two tackled them.

"When did you get back?" said Naruto excitedly.

"We're only here for a debriefing. We head back tomorrow," said Usagi.

"Can you train with us?" asked Sasuke.

"We can't train with you...but we can go see a movie with you if you want," said Itachi.

"Really?" the two said in sync.

"But before that...RAMEN! I have been having a craving for Ichiraku all week!" declared Usagi.

"YATTA!"

Usagi and Naruto devoured their ramen in eerie synchronization, though Usagi stopped at three bowls.

"If I didn't know any better I would swear the two of you were related by blood," Itachi said deadpan.

"Eh?"

"You two are far too alike in looks and personality for you two to _not_ be related by blood."

Sasuke paused in his special ramen, which Ichiraku dropped a few tomatoes in.

"He has a point. I mean no one in the village has blue eyes and blond hair except you two," he commented.

"Actually...I'm the only blond in the family. It baffled my dad when I was first born. They had to do three blood tests to make sure that they didn't get the wrong kid at the time," admitted Usagi.

"...I can see that one happening," said Itachi.

"Ikuko-kaa-chan is awesome! She makes ramen to rival old man Ichiraku!" declared Naruto.

"I should hope so! When she told me she had adopted you I gave her one of my older ramen recipes!" said Teuchi.

"Ramen is the food of the gods!" Naruto said.

"Agreed, though Mama doesn't like making it that often," said Usagi.

"You two have to be related," said Itachi deadpan.

Usagi looked at her watch.

"Oh no, if we don't hurry then we'll miss the movie!" said Usagi.

Naruto finished his ramen pretty quick after that, and Sasuke drank the last of his broth.

"I call dibs on the popcorn," said Sasuke.

"Chocolate!" declared Usagi.

"I swear you three would eat me out of house and home..." muttered Itachi.

* * *

Usagi and Itachi were heading back to the seal area (the place the Hokage set aside for them to go back and forth from Tokyo) when Usagi paused.

"Did you hear that?"

"Hear what?"

"Someone is crying..."

Usagi bolted down a hidden alley and Itachi was quick to follow. What they found was a pale boy with a long brush behind his back crying silently. How she heard that kid, he had no clue.

"What's the matter?"

"My brother was killed...and I'm scheduled to get the seal tomorrow..."

"I'm sure your brother wouldn't want you to cry in this dark alleyway. What's your name?"

"I'm Sai."

"Do you have a last name Sai?"

"Just Sai."

Sai was barely any older than their brothers. Usagi lifted him with ease.

"Well Sai, what is this seal you're talking about?"

"Danzo-sama has ordered my superiors to place the special seal on me tomorrow morning..." said Sai.

He may have been programmed complete loyalty to Danzo, but no one could withstand Usagi when it came to her eyes. Her eyes had the strangest ability to break down any conditioning against talking, and it was sometimes used by Anko to break enemy shinobi into telling her what she wanted to know.

Sai curled up into her arms.

"Oh joy...another enters our fold," said Itachi dryly.

"At least we'll be able to fill the Uchiha compound sooner rather than later at this rate," said Usagi with a grin.

"We need to report to the Hokage before we leave," said Itachi.

"We aren't leaving him!" said Usagi.

Sai curled into her arms a little more. Something about her chakra was so soothing that all his defenses crumbled.

* * *

"So...the ROOT program is still in existence. Rabbit, Weasel, I grant you permission to take the boy with you to the base, at least until we find a way to get rid of that program once and for all."

"Hai, Hokage-sama!"

Sai stayed very close to Usagi. He felt safe around her. They were about to leave when the door opened. Sai sensed who it was immediately and hid behind Itachi and Usagi. The two closed ranks in front of him without a word, knowing instinctively that someone was coming. Someone that didn't need to know Sai was behind them.

"Hokage-sama. What's this I hear about the seal being active?"

"Which seal are you referring to?"

"The Hiraishin."

"Ah yes, Rabbit and Weasel dropped by to report before they returned to their mission. It seems we weren't aware of the time."

Danzo glared at Usagi. She was a thorn in his side ever since her mother successfully adopted the Kyuubi brat and effectively ruined his plans to turn him into another weapon.

"By your leave, Hokage-sama," said Usagi.

Sai was so effectively hidden between the two that Danzo didn't even see him.

* * *

"This is Tokyo?" said Sai.

"The air may stink to high heaven, but their technology is far beyond what is available in Konoha," said Itachi.

"You only say it stinks because of the car exhaust fumes," said Usagi annoyed.

"The air does...have a strange smell," said Sai.

Itachi grinned at his girlfriend who glared at them both.

"For that you two are making supper tonight!" she declared.

Before Itachi could say a thing she had one final parting shot.

"AND NO CAMPFIRE JUTSU!" she yelled.

"Damn."

Sai looked at Itachi with confusion.

"What does she mean by that?"

"Whenever I get stuck with cooking duty, I always use my fire jutsu to make the food. More often than not Usagi has to have a bucket handy in case the thing goes out of control. She has also made a point to keep extra kunai in the kitchen for some reason..."

Usagi reappeared with new take out menus.

"That's because half the time he attempts to cook, for some reason the damn thing comes alive and tries to kill us," she said annoyed.

Sai looked at Itachi with mistrust. Anyone who could create living things simply by cooking...

* * *

"This is Rabbit. I think I've located the four other senshi," said Usagi.

"_How sure are you?"_ asked Sai.

"Well for starters that damn cat is there with another one next to it," said Usagi annoyed.

Itachi had filled Sai in on the cat that kept bothering her and the fact that until ordered it was to be left alone.

Usagi waited before saying "I'm going in. Itachi, bring Sai to the Hikawa Shrine. That's where they are located."

"_Hai. See you in fifteen, Rabbit."_

Usagi decided a little scare was in order. Without alerting the others to her presence, she appeared on the nearby tree branch wearing her mask.

"Yo."

"EEP!" yelped the four girls.

"Who are you?!" demanded Luna.

"Mah mah...that's no way to treat an ally," said Usagi taking off the Rabbit mask.

"Luna, who is this?" asked the white cat.

"ANBU designation Rabbit, Tsukino Usagi. Yoroshiku!"

"Where is the locket?" demanded Luna crossly.

"I sent that thing to the research department to figure what sort of genjutsu you had on it, since that thing took control of my body every time I wore it," answered Usagi annoyed.

You could see the sparks flying between the cat and the girl.

"Ano...who are you?" asked the only other blond in the room.

"Right. I can assume Luna here never mentioned me."

"You're that girl who sent Jadeite somewhere else!" said Rei.

"I sent him where he would receive the treatment he deserves. Anko sure had a lot of fun breaking him from what I heard."

Luna looked at her in shock.

"What did you do?" she demanded.

"I got information that none of you would have been able to get. For starters their main base is in a pocket dimension surrounded by a literal sea of ice that has been around since the 'Moon Kingdom.' Their main objective is to find some sort of crystal and kill the missing princess before she learns how to use it. The leader of their group is a woman called Queen Beryl and she seeks to free a being called Metallia by draining civilians of their energy and use the crystal."

The four girls stared at her.

"How did you learn all that in less than a month?" asked the blond.

"I sent the one called Jadeite to a woman who specializes in interrogation. Most people cave when they deal with her," shrugged Usagi.

Itachi and Sai appeared behind her.

"Right. Now we need some introductions!" said Usagi.

"Hino Rei," said the miko.

"Mizuno Ami," said the blue haired girl.

"Kino Makoto," said the brunette.

"Aino Minako," said the blond.

"I'm Artemis and you've already meet Luna," said the white cat.

"Tsukino Usagi, chunin."

"Uchiha Itachi, Jounin."

"Sai."

"Now that that's out of the way...WHO THE HECK ARE YOU PEOPLE!?" said Minako.

"We are shinobi sent from Konohagakure no Sato to find and exterminate the source of these 'youma' before they do real damage to the land of Fire. Because of the more frequent attacks here in Tokyo, our Hokage sent us here," said Usagi.

"Why is Luna glaring at you?" asked Ami.

"Because of some locket I received in a game that was letting off a suspicious energy, she had the strange notion that I am one of the senshi, specifically the Moon."

"If you aren't going to live up to your destiny then give it back so I can find the real one!" said Luna hotly.

Usagi glared at her.

"And let you brainwash some other innocent civilian? Absolutely not!"

"Wait, brainwash?" said Minako suspiciously.

"The locket I got had the ability to brainwash me. During the initial use of it I lost all control of my body and my fighting ability went down the drain once I transformed. It has also been absorbing the chakra that for some reason has always spilled out of me since I was little," explained Usagi.

"How do you know it was brainwashing you?" demanded Luna.

Usagi looked at her and said flatly "I don't monologue and I place explosive tags on people who do."

"It's true. The last time someone tried to do that within her hearing she set a tag on him and it exploded pink paint all over him. The genin teams had to clean up that mess for weeks," said Itachi.

"Who or what are you people?" asked Rei.

"We are shinobi, or as the civilians sometimes call us, Ninjas," said Usagi, Sai and Itachi.

"I thought ninjas looked like this and went 'nin, nin' all the time?" asked Makoto, pulling out one of her ninja manga.

Itachi took one look at the ninja in the manga and did something that would have most people in Konoha staring. He laughed his ass off.

Usagi looked at the book and grinned.

"No one looks like this anymore unless they _want_ to look like a cliché throwback!" she giggled.

Sai even smiled when he saw the book.

Makoto looked disappointed. She had hoped that they wouldn't make fun of her.

"In any case, most of what this book has in it is possible, it just doesn't happen as often as you think," said Usagi, handing it back.

(The book in question was _Negima, _in case any of you were wondering.)

"So what do modern ninjas do?" asked Ami, curious.

Usagi grinned.

"What do you think Itachi, should we?"

"Nothing flashy," he said calmly.

Sai hid a grin. He would be able to show the people who saved him his special talent.

Usagi made a series of handsigns and said "Time to show my newest trick! Summoning Jutsu!"

Itachi looked at his girlfriend with interest. He wasn't aware she had signed a summoning contract.

"_Yo!"_ said the tiny kitsune.

"KUWAII!" said the girls as one.

"When did you sign that contract?" asked Itachi.

"Huh...I don't remember."

"_According to the boss, you signed it two days ago while you were still in Konoha. Your name showed up around that time,"_ said the fox.

"Hey that's when I had that weird dream again!" said Usagi.

"I suppose it's my turn then," said Itachi.

"_Fire Style: Grand Fireball!"_ said Itachi.

The girls clapped at his demonstration of the technique.

"Who said it wasn't supposed to be flashy?" said Usagi.

"Alright Sai, let's see what your specialty is," said Itachi.

Sai took out a long scroll and his paint set. At first Usagi thought he was a seal master like her...until he put his brush to scroll. In the span of a few minutes, Sai had painted an accurate picture of Luna and Artemis.

And then the picture came out of the scroll.

"So your ability is to bring pictures to life? Interesting!" said Usagi.

"I don't look that fat!" said Luna annoyed.

"I don't know, that double seems pretty accurate to me," said Artemis, looking at his.

The look Luna sent Artemis could have set him on fire.

"So what exactly is the plan?" asked Usagi.

"Plan?" asked Minako.

"Yes. Surely you four have at least a rudimentary plan to take out this threat to your homes?" said Itachi.

"Um...well, that is..." said Luna.

"You don't have a plan aside from hit and run tactics, do you?" said Usagi.

Their silence was all that was needed.

"I see. Well, since you four are the only ones who can take out the youma in the city without us calling for backup... I have three choices for you," said Usagi.

"And those are?" asked Minako.

"One, you continue on as you have and possibly get killed because your fighting skills are sub par at best," said Itachi.

"Two, we call in reinforcements and take care of this ourselves, though the cost will be extremely high on our end and possibly this end as well," said Sai.

"Or three... We train you so that you can handle the youma threat with only us as your back up, and that way you won't be killed on accident," said Usagi.

"How can two teens and a child train the senshi so that they don't get killed by youma?" scoffed Luna.

The cat froze when it felt something fly past her ear and into the wood. She slowly turned her head...to find a razor sharp throwing star.

"Don't mock someone who can slip into your home and kill you in the night without getting caught. Though out of the three of us only Itachi has ever done that...I think," said Usagi.

"Usagi, just because you're the only high chunin level without a single kill to your record..."

Usagi gave him a raspberry.

"I'm the only one without a kill count, yet I still have a name back home!" said Usagi annoyed.

"It's true. Usagi-san is called the Siren of the Seals...while Itachi-san has yet to get a name attached to him," said Sai.

"How did you know that Sai?" asked Usagi.

Sai reached into his shuriken pouch to pull out...

"Where did you get a BINGO book?!" said Usagi in surprise.

"Required reading," said Sai.

"That does it, we're getting you some manga...and art books," said Usagi firmly.

"What's a BINGO book?" asked Ami.

Usagi handed it to her.

"This is...!"

"A book of people who have ever made an name for themselves in the Elemental countries or have turned traitor. Because of my record my bounty isn't high at all."

The only thing running through Luna's mind was 'If that girl is the princess I am going to bang my head against the wall...'


	5. Chapter 5

Out of the four senshi, only two survived the training that Usagi put them through each day.

Makoto and Minako. The brunette was used to fighting for long periods of time, so Itachi helped her with her taijutsu skills. Minako had been fighting youma for over a year, so her body had started the conditioning early on.

Ami and Rei were still trying to catch their breath. To the surprise of Rei, Itachi was very good at improving her fire attacks. Sai had just started his elemental training, which happened to be water.

In an effort to prepare the senshi for real battles, Usagi and Itachi put them through a rough academy training. About the only thing they didn't cover was weapon training.

"Ami-chan, have you finished that book I gave you yesterday?" asked Usagi.

"I had cram school last night..." said Ami.

"And we don't bother with local schools!" said Usagi.

The four girls stopped what they were doing to look at the shinobi.

"What?!"

"We don't bother to go to school," said Itachi.

"I don't believe you! I've seen you in my class!" said Makoto.

"That wasn't us," said Usagi grinning evilly. This would be _hilarious._

"_Shadow Clone Jutsu!"_

Suddenly there were two Itachi and Usagi there. Usagi poked hers with a grin.

"Go ahead and test them out. Perfect copies...and whenever they go away we get their memories!" said Usagi with a grin.

"That is so not fair!" cried Minako.

"You mean the fact that we can skip school and still get our 'homework' done?" said Itachi.

"Or the fact that no one bothers us to go since we can look like we're adults?" grinned Usagi.

"We so hate you two right now..." said Rei.

"Oh cheer up! If you can survive our training, you too can fool the cops into thinking you're older than you look!" said Usagi with a laugh.

The girls all groaned at that, while Artemis watched the training with interest. Luna, for some odd reason, refused to watch the training sessions. Artemis had the distinct feeling the cat was so set in her ways that she had difficulty dealing with new ideas.

* * *

Usagi had had it with the locket. The researchers had discovered that the odd problem she had with it wasn't brainwashing at all...but the locket trying to bring something out of her.

And she had a very good idea of what it might be after talking to Inoichi when she took it back. So when she returned to Tokyo, she did something unusual. She pumped as much of her light chakra into a clone, and when it came out gave the locket to the clone. The result was instant.

"Huh? Where am I?" said the clone.

"I knew it... You, little Princess, are in the twentieth century of Tokyo. Your feline friend Luna has been giving me grief about the locket you now hold because it was one of the few things guaranteed to bring you out," said Usagi, her eyebrows twitching.

"Who are you?" asked Serenity.

"I happen to be your future reincarnation, Tsukino Usagi. Since I didn't want my body to be taken over by you, I gave the locket to a clone that you can control instead."

"What?"

"...The body you have is a duplicate of mine, and since I don't want my personality overrun by yours I gave it to the double," she said in the simplest terms possible.

"Okay."

"Usagi, who are you...why do you have a clone out?" asked Itachi.

"Itachi, meet the missing princess Luna was having kittens over," said Usagi.

"HUH?!"

Once they got settled in, Usagi explained her theory about the reincarnation process getting skewed slightly. Since if she had stayed in Tokyo and grown up there she might have been more like Serenity, it was entirely possible the locket was originally supposed to merge both past and present selves into the same person.

Unfortunately for Serenity, Usagi moved to Konoha and became a well known kunoichi, causing her to fight the merging. As a result, neither of them could inhabit the same body without causing problems for the other.

Which was why Usagi created an odd clone. Serenity could take possession of the clone and still live again, but this time she wouldn't have to fight Usagi for the body.

It was the best of a bad situation.

Of course that didn't prepare Usagi for what happened next.

* * *

"So Usagi-chan, who was that hottie we saw you with earlier?" asked Minako.

"You mean Itachi?"

"No, I mean the older guy with the sunglasses!" said Minako.

"I was with Itachi and Artemis trying to narrow down the base all day Minako. I didn't leave the command center until around four..." started Usagi before she looked outside and facepalmed.

Minako and the girls turned to find...another Usagi with the same guy as before.

"I should have known... I should have guessed _this_ would happen when I finally figured out what the hell was wrong with that locket..."

"Isn't that you?" asked Makoto.

"No...that outside is why I thought the locket was attempting to brainwash me every time I had it on."

"If that's not you...then who is it?" asked Ami.

"I'll give you two hints. One, our personalities clashed horribly which is why I even noticed it... and Two, our taste in men is entirely different."

Ami and Minako got it first, and their eyes turned into large saucers.

"You mean that's...?!"

"Meet Serenity, my annoying cousin," she said.

"How do you manage with two different versions of yourself?" asked Minako.

"Simple. I told her in order to fit into this timeline she had to go to school...and a little subtle genjutsu made everyone believe that she was me. As a result, she'll become a normal girl in no time. Which means now Luna can leave me the hell alone...once I figure out a way to make that clone permanent."

"So...does this mean she'll be joining us in training?" asked Makoto.

Suddenly the bad mood Usagi had was replaced with an evil smirk. Apparently she had never considered that aspect...

* * *

Serenity woke up to a rather rude wake up call as Sai threw a bucket of ice cold water complete with ice.

The boy turned to his surrogate older sister and said "I'm starting to see why you suggested doing this. It appears to be quite effective."

"Oh, that's not why I told you to use the ice bucket Sai..." said Usagi, coming in with the most evil look on her face. Serenity gulped and started to back away, but it was useless.

The time had come to toughen up the girl that would most likely be made Queen. From what Usagi had understood, the girl had never had to work a day in her life. Even the calluses on her hand weren't hers, but the ones Usagi had. Which was why Usagi was going to make the princess train with the other senshi, since she was supposed to lead them.

Serenity had tested the locket the night before and they were relieved to discover that with all the extra light chakra Usagi channeled into the clone she was using, the girl could transform and shoot off at least ten attacks. Though her control was sloppy and she needed another chakra boost after words.

Usagi found out that if a clone was given chakra pills, then they stabilized enough to fool even an older nin into thinking they were alive. As a result, she stockpiled on chakra pills just so she wouldn't have to keep remaking the same damn clone.

On the plus side, Serenity retained her memories and didn't pass them to Usagi whenever she was in the clone, and even if Usagi had to create a new one she could pick up right where she left off. Case in point the time she was playing a game on the TV with Sai and had to pause when the clone she was using dispersed. A few seconds later with a new clone and the two went right back on to playing.

And so...things slowly wound down to the biggest battle the senshi had ever encountered...

* * *

"People are passing out beneath Tokyo Tower!" said Usagi in shock.

The senshi and shinobi headed to the spot unaware of what was about to occur. While the senshi tried to find the source of the drain, Usagi went to the top of the tower with Itachi. In her hand was the strange wand that Serenity had been given by Luna. Supposedly it could amplify light chakra.

Serenity had given it to Usagi, because her power was stronger...and she didn't think that a clone would be able to fully activate the power it held.

Usagi was very reluctant to use anything that Luna had given the girl. But at this point she didn't have a choice.

"_Moon Healing Escalation!"_

The light that came from the wand started to heal those below...but it couldn't reach all the affected areas and the drain was too strong for Usagi to maintain it.

Suddenly there was an attack, and Itachi tried to block it.

"_ITACHI!"_ Usagi cried out. Her boyfriend began to fall, unable to maintain his chakra control on the tower's sides. She grabbed him without thinking and didn't realize until it was too late that she had lost control of her grip.

The two began to fall to their deaths...when suddenly a light appeared from inside Usagi!

Vaguely she could sense Serenity's voice crying out to her boyfriend Mamoru Chiba. Apparently both of their loves had taken a hit for them.

The power that had always spilled out of her grew in intensity as something forced it's way to the surface. Usagi could feel that whatever had given her all the powers she held was coming out.

A gem appeared in her hands, and she could feel the light healing her boyfriend and Mamoru. The light itself seemed to go into the two...and for some reason Serenity.

When it died down, Usagi was too weak to stop Itachi from being taken from her, just as Serenity was unable to save Mamoru.

"No!"

Usagi passed out, unable to stay awake. Dimly she could sense Serenity doing the same...only for some reason she didn't vanish like usual.

When she woke up, Itachi wasn't in the next room. He was gone.

* * *

If the senshi thought Usagi was terrifying when her KI was directed at them...they were sorely mistaken. An angry Usagi was a hundred times worse.

For some reason though, Serenity had yet to vanish like usual...and after having her try her luck at throwing shuriken (when mishandled they could very well cut the person throwing them) they learned one important fact.

Serenity was no longer just a soul possessing the clone of her present self. The light of the silver crystal had turned what was supposed to be a being made purely of chakra into a flesh and blood body. Meaning Usagi no longer had to worry about the locket trying to force the princess into her own.

Serenity had been reborn into the present age.

(The only real issue the girl had was the fact that her hair wouldn't stop growing at an alarming rate. It took the combined efforts of Minako and Rei to get it to stay put.)

It was Luna who came up with a suggestion that they all agreed would at least count as doing _something._

"Let's go to the moon."

"Can we wait a day? I need to inform someone of what happened to Itachi," said Usagi suddenly.

"The only time we can go is during the full moon, which is in five days," Luna informed her.

Since she had taken the hardest hit after Itachi was kidnapped, they agreed to wait until she could get back.

* * *

"Itachi-nii has been kidnapped?! How?!" asked Sasuke in alarm.

"We were fighting the enemy when he took a hit for me...his body was healed in time but the one we were fighting grabbed him right as I was passing out."

Sasuke looked devastated. Itachi was the only person he had left, next to Usagi who he viewed as his older sister.

"What are you going to do?" asked Naruto.

"We're going to the one place that might hold some answers when I get back."

"Take us with you!" said the two in sync.

Usagi looked worried, then decided to ask the Hokage on his opinion.

"Go ahead and take them. They won't be able to do any school work while they're so worried about Itachi, and it would do them good to see the outside of the Elemental areas," said Sarutobi.

"And what of the other boy?"

"Sai has officially been designated your ward, since you are old enough to live on your own now. Danzo can't legally touch him, and once most of this nonsense is settled he can attend the Academy as an at-home transfer."

Usagi quickly gathered the two, and they set off for Tokyo through the seal.

* * *

"Man, this place _reeks!"_ said Naruto, holding his nose.

"It's the pollution. Most people don't even notice it anymore," said Usagi firmly.

"So where is this base of yours?" asked Sasuke.

She lead them to her old home, where the senshi and Sai were waiting.

"HOLY COW! TWO NEE-CHANS?!" said Naruto loudly.

"Oh yeah...forgot to mention her. Sasuke, Naruto, meet Serenity. Long story short she was the spirit that was stuck inside of me until I shoved her into a clone so the black cat over there would shut up," said Usagi.

Seeing the look on Naruto's face she quickly added "She's not a ghost anymore."

And with that, the blond boy relaxed. At least until the girls got a good look at him.

"They're sooooo cute!" they squealed.

Out of the two of them, only Sasuke was used to that reaction.

"Usagi-nee, who are these crazy girls?!" asked Naruto.

"Meet Ami, Rei, Makoto and Minako. The two fuzzballs in the corner are Artemis and Luna," said Usagi.

"Usagi-nee, didn't you say that you would never get a cat after the way Tora scratched you?" asked Sasuke.

"Tora?" asked Minako.

"Tora, the cat belonging to the Fire Daimyo's wife. That thing escapes practically every day and it's hated by practically any ninja hired to catch that damn thing. It's the common opinion of the shinobi in Konoha that the feline is really a demon in disguise...unfortunately we aren't allowed to kill it," said Usagi annoyed.

"That cat hates me!" said Naruto. He had tried to help his sister catch it once, and it scratched the hell out of him in the process.

"We go tonight," said Luna. She was mildly irritated that neither of the boys even reacted to the fact she could talk.

"Nee-san...where did you find a nin animal in this place?" asked Sasuke.

"She followed me back after I rescued her from the neighborhood kids. She won't leave me alone because apparently I'm some sort of senshi..." grumbled Usagi.

Unknown to Usagi, the five other girls breathed a sigh of relief. At least now she was back to being her usual self instead of that scary person from before.

When the park cleared for the night, they made their way. Luna chanted a spell from the time of the Moon Kingdom to get it all started. Usagi held onto the three boys firmly while Serenity held onto her. As soon as they had transformed, the residual energy carried them all the way across space onto the moon.

Into the Sea of Serenity.


	6. Chapter 6

As Usagi touched the solid ground of the moon, she knew something was off about it. For one thing, there was a massive amount of chakra flowing through it that was easily greater than that of the fox she met in her dreams.

After she signed the kitsune contract, she had begun to realize who that fox was.

The terrifying Kyuubi no Yoko. The one who nearly destroyed Konoha and killed the Fourth Hokage.

But there was something odd about the fox whenever she saw him. It was like he actually _liked_ her enough to never wish her harm. Even the blond man who helped her with seals had commented on how odd that was.

Suddenly Usagi could hear chuckling in the back of her mind. It was the fox who gave her that contract.

"_**Of course I would never try to harm you, silly girl. None of us could ever harm the child that the Sage cherished so much."**_

Before she could ask the fox what it meant, they had come across the ruins of the Moon Kingdom. Serenity felt a pit of despair as she looked upon her ruined home.

"Usagi-nee...this place feels weird..." said Naruto.

"Yeah, like it's something that is about to wake up if given the chance..." said Sasuke.

"Senshi, you must remove that sword!" said Luna.

Out of all the senshi, only Minako could do it. The ghostly image of Queen Serenity appeared.

"GAH! A GHOST!" yelped Naruto, hiding behind Usagi.

Usagi on the other hand, looked more closely at the projection.

"There's some lingering chakra in this thing. Maybe I can boost it..." she mumbled.

With a quick clone, Usagi carefully picked up the lingering projection and placed it inside her chakra double. The ghostly presence of Queen Serenity took the chance and possessed the clone, much as her daughter had. As a result, the clone no longer looked like Usagi at all.

"_How...?"_

"Shadow clones can apparently be used for more than battle. I learned by accident that they can also be used to boost the powers of ghost and spirits enough that they can possess the clone in order to talk without dissipating," said Usagi.

Queen Serenity looked grateful for the chance to talk to the Senshi and her daughter in person again, even if she was barely a wisp of a ghost now.

"_My precious daughter...I am so sorry for all the pain you have gone through..."_

"Mother!"

Serenity sobbed into her mother's arms.

"Queen Serenity, I have a question. Why was the silver crystal inside of me and not the spirit of your daughter?" asked Usagi.

"_Because your spirits turned out to be incompatible with each other, the crystal remained in your body whenever she took over a clone. Thanks to the power of the crystal, Serenity has been given her own body and will no longer possess yours. However, this gift came with a heavy price."_

"What price, mother?" asked Serenity.

"_Since the body that you were reborn in wasn't compatible with your previous self, and you were forced to take over a false one in order to live again, you are no longer able to use the crystal to it's full potential. If you tried and failed, then your body would be torn apart and your soul would be destroyed. While you are still the princess of the moon, you can no longer use the silver crystal."_

"Wait a minute...if she can't use the crystal, then WHY is she still able to transform?!" said Usagi.

Queen Serenity at Naruto pointedly.

"_Because there is another power hidden inside the moon. A power that was sealed away by Serenity's father, my husband. He insured that should the Moon Kingdom fall to the enemy, the power would be split apart into nine fragments and given their own bodies to keep that power from being awakened."_

"Who was your husband?" asked Usagi.

"_My husband had many names, but I think you know very well who he is Tsukino Usagi. After all, you and your friends follow his teachings every day."_

"No way... Serenity is the daughter of the Sage of Six Paths?!" said Usagi in shock.

"Usagi-nee, who is the Sage of Six Paths?" asked Naruto.

"Dobe, don't you pay attention in history?" said Sasuke.

"No. Iruka puts me to sleep whenever he gets into stride. Besides I skip half the time," said Naruto.

"The Sage of Six Paths is the creator of the original shinobi way. He was said to have possessed the rarest of all doujutsu, the Rinnegan and the bijuu supposedly followed him around like he was their father! Legend has it that he split apart the ten tailed demon into nine parts and sealed the rest of it's power in the moon!" said Sasuke while putting Naruto in a headlock.

"_Roku sealed the Jubi here with my permission, as a show of good faith. I eventually fell for him and had Serenity, but she never displayed any ability towards her father's arts."_

"Until now. It explains how Serenity was able to control that shadow clone so easily..." said Usagi.

"_Now there are two princesses. One of magic and one of chakra. Even I could never had seen this coming."_

"Queen Serenity, both of our loves have been taken hostage. Do you know where this Metallia is?" asked Usagi.

"_Metallia was sealed in a sea of ice, in a forbidden temple. Any record of that location was destroyed when the Kingdom fell. However, I do recall an odd black spot near the top of the Earth."_

"Top of the... They're at the North Pole!" said Ami.

"It is a wasteland of ice..." said Makoto.

"We have to hurry...the sun will rise on the Earth soon and if we stay we'll be stuck until next full moon," said Luna.

"I wish we could stay and hear more about the Rokudo Sannin," said Naruto.

Queen Serenity smiled at him in amusement.

"_I'm sure the tenant you hold inside of you can tell you all about him if you ask the right way,"_ she said mysteriously.

"Tenant?"

"I was hoping that I was wrong... Naruto, I'll explain later," said Usagi.

As they left, Usagi saw her clone pop and leave a sad Queen behind. She had a feeling that this was the same spirit who protected her mind from Inoichi until he explained why he was there.

* * *

"Usagi-nee, why are we out in the mountains alone?" asked Naruto.

"Naruto, what I am about to tell you is the truth. Remember how the Queen mentioned your 'tenant'?"

"Yeah?"

"I think she meant the fox that attacked the village."

"You mean the Kyuubi?"

"Exactly."

"But how...why?" asked Naruto absolutely horrified and upset.

"Naruto, I want you to do something for me. Can you channel as much chakra as you can into a shadow clone?"

"You mean like you used to do for that princess?"

"Yes. I want you to put as much as you can into it and the let it out. Think you can do that for me?"

"I'll try nee-chan."

As Naruto concentrated as much chakra as he could, Usagi went into his mind and confronted the blond man.

_'This is your only shot at explaining to him, so you better make it count. I'll make sure that your spirit is placed into the clone, so start talking! And Kyuubi, you'll get your shot soon enough okay?'_

The fox rumbled as a reply, but at least Usagi had made it so he could watch the reunion of the Fourth and his son. This was guaranteed to be amusing.

Once the clone came out, the Fourth took over.

The minute Naruto saw who it was, he did the only thing that came to mind.

He hit the Hero of Konoha with the strongest right uppercut he could muster. Kyuubi laughed his furry ass off.

"Naruto, at least let him talk before you try to gnaw his head off," said Usagi with amusement.

Naruto huffed, but gave him a chance to talk.

"Hello...son."

Somehow, Usagi knew that Naruto was going to have a lot of fun with his real father...and the poor shinobi of Konoha...

* * *

Usagi and Serena were absolutely devastated when they found out that somehow Beryl had taken control of their boyfriends.

In the course of a single month, Itachi and Mamoru had attacked the senshi and shinobi 7 times. It was during the last attack that Sasuke accidentally unlocked his Sharingan while trying to free his brother.

"ANIKI, WAKE UP!"Sasuke cried.

Itachi's sharingan shifted from the three tomoe styled to that of a three pronged pinwheel. Sasuke gasped, as he recognized that pinwheel from the scrolls Itachi sometimes left around the apartment.

Mangekyo Sharingan, the second stage of the eye. Itachi always confiscated the scrolls before Sasuke could find out how to awaken it, but he knew it was extremely powerful.

Something inside Itachi snapped, and the power Beryl had over him broke completely.

"Sas-uke?" said Itachi, as if waking from a deep sleep.

"ANIKI!" Sasuke tackled his brother in relief.

"When...when did you awaken the sharingan?" asked Itachi, almost afraid of the answer.

"While you were under that genjutsu that old hag had you under! Don't worry, you only gave us a few bruises and cuts. Never anything serious!" said Sasuke quickly.

Itachi was horrified and disgusted that the old woman had controlled him so easily. The fact that he fought against his brother and his girlfriend angered him greatly.

"I am going to kill that witch!" growled Itachi.

"Itachi-nii, the girls are still fighting Serenity's boyfriend. If we hurry we might be able to catch up with them!" said Sasuke.

Itachi knelt and Sasuke quickly scrambled up his brother's back. Even he knew that he wasn't fast enough to catch the girls. That and trying to wake up his brother took a lot of energy out of him.

"Lead the way little brother," said Itachi.

By the time they got there, it appeared to be too late. Itachi watched with horror as Usagi used a sword he had never seen before and shoved it into her chest.

"_USAGI!"_

The sight of his beloved friend killing herself caused a chain reaction in his eyes. The mangekyo sharingan, one of the most powerful doujutsu in existence, shifted. The pinwheel shape changed forms into the Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan.

Minutes passed that felt like hours to him. His girlfriend, the only girl who he had ever trusted or cared about was dead. And he had been unable to stop her. Tears fell from his blood red eyes, and he felt his heart break.

"Itachi!"

_'That voice...'_

Slowly his head turned and his heart stopped cold. His eyes turned to the cold forms of Usagi and the one known as Mamoru Chiba, the reincarnated body of Endymion. And then back to the girl with the silver hair. She looked exactly like Usagi...except for the hair.

"Itachi, your eyes..."

"Who are you?"

"Usagi-nee! I did it!" said Sasuke.

"Good job Sasuke. I knew you could break that spell she had on him!" said the woman.

"Usagi...? Then who...?"

"Serenity. We took a trip to the moon a month ago and my hair suddenly shifted from golden to silver within a few weeks. From what we found out, the color change was to signify the fact that I alone can use the silver crystal, since Serenity lost that ability when the crystal gave her that new body."

"Then that's..."

"Serenity. Honestly, wasn't the first time enough?" said Usagi with exasperation.

"Usagi, we need to go!" said Minako.

"We're coming! Come on Itachi, we still have a fight ahead of us!" said Usagi.

Itachi followed her, relieved beyond mere words that his beloved friend was still alive. He didn't know how he could live on without her. The moment he passed a mirror though, he took note of the fact that his eyes had shifted.

This was the second time this had happened.

His mind went back to the initial change back when his clan was still alive.

* * *

_Flashback~!_

"_Shisui, what is the meaning of calling me out like this?" asked Itachi. His best friend (next to Usagi who was more like his girlfriend at this point) had called him out in the middle of the night to ask him something._

"_Itachi, the clan has decided that you cannot pursue that civilian girl," said Shisui._

"_What?! Why? My father gave me permission to continue my relationship with her!"_

"_The clan elders say otherwise. She isn't from a noble background, and despite her unusual chakra affinity she has yet to show any real powers."_

"_Her wail doesn't count?" asked Itachi annoyed._

"_You either stop seeing her...or we'll kill you both," said Shisui._

"_I don't know what's gotten into you, but if you think I'll stop seeing her because of those old geezers then I would rather be banished from this cursed clan!" said Itachi, turning from Shisui._

_Only his shinobi training saved him, as a sword heading straight for his heart nearly impaled him. Itachi growled, and grabbed Shisui's hand. The two fought, and Itachi managed to stab Shisui with his own sword. His friend was wounded, yes, but that wasn't what killed him._

_His leg, caught in a tree root caused him to fall into the river and drown. It came loose right as his struggling stopped._

_Itachi was so shaken by the event he went straight to his home...and when he looked in the mirror he held back a gasp._

_His sharingan had shifted into the secondary stage. Itachi could barely sleep that night._

_Flashback end~_

* * *

Usagi was with the senshi when they decided to use up what was left of their transformation abilities to awaken Serenity.

Usagi decided that she would help. As she held the silver crystal in her hands, the gem changed into that of a flower. She felt arms around her, and she turned to find Itachi with his hands in her own.

Sasuke and Naruto were watching on the sidelines with Sai. If this failed, then the Elemental areas would be hit hard, and the world might be lost.

Usagi took a deep breath...and the power of the crystal flowed into her. She could feel Serenity's heart beat in time with her own, and for the first time since the awakening, their souls were as one.

The power was stronger than any she had ever felt. Metallia couldn't withstand the light of the crystal...and was destroyed.

Victory seemed to be theirs...until Usagi saw the devastation wrought by the battle. Both halves of the princess used their power together and cried...

"_Moon Healing Escalation!"_

The power of the silver crystal and the power of the Jubi sleeping dormant in the moon combined together and healed the damage created by the battle. The senshi awoke again and found their powers restored.

In the process, something was created by that light.

Serenity and Endymion returned...and Serenity had another crystal in her hands.

"What is this?" asked Serenity.

Usagi smiled.

"I think we should call that the Sannin crystal. I can feel the power of the Jubi coming from it, so surely it holds the same powers as the Rokudo Sannin. Since you can't use the Silver Crystal anymore, that was created so you can still fight."

The two princesses smiled together for once, they were of the same mind and heart.

* * *

Itachi hugged his girlfriend tightly.

"I thought I lost you."

"But you didn't! Still...why did your sharingan change like that?"

"There is only one recorded time that the sharingan has changed from the mangekyo to a third form. I had only read about it before the record was destroyed during the massacre... It's called the Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan. Unlike the second form it doesn't do any damage to the user's sight."

"Itachi... You know we still have to report back home right?"

"I know... I just want to stay here a while."

Itachi leaned against his girlfriend and relaxed. The battles were over and the youma were finally gone. Sasuke and Naruto were back in the Academy and Sai had joined them. The three looked like they could be a great team when they graduated.

Once Itachi woke from his little nap, Usagi held up a box of pocky.

Itachi grinned...and when he went to kiss his girlfriend something unexpected happened.

A small ball that looked like a kitsune dropped on his head...followed by a small girl with silvery black hair.

"Who are you?" asked Itachi. The girl's arms were around his neck and her little ball was rolling on the ground.

"My name is Gale Uchiha. Are you Itachi and Usagi?" she asked.

"Um...yes?"

"Have Naruto and Sasuke graduated yet?"

"No... They take the exam next week," said Usagi confused beyond reason.

"Then I'm not too late. Good."

"Who exactly are you?" asked Usagi.

Gale was a small nine year old with silvery hair, amethyst color eyes and hair in a very familiar form...aside from the fact that it was pointed at the top instead of round.

"Like I said, my name is Gale...and I am your daughter from the future."

"HUH?!" came the duo responses of Itachi and Usagi.


	7. Chapter 7

Gale stared at the famous Third Hokage. Her uncle 'Ruto spoke of the old man often. And had given her a few things so she could finally take the jounin exam, since the ancient law forbid it in her own time.

"So...you are the future daughter of Rabbit and Weasel. I thought Time Travel was forbidden by the Sage?"

"Time Travel is the last taboo. However things in my time have for some reason become twisted and from what we can tell it's source was in the past. So after my Mirror Twin showed up I was allowed to pass through the gates. My father and uncles made very sure I was well prepared for a trip to the past, despite the fact that the illness that struck the Elemetnal Areas had hit them just as hard as everyone else."

"What sort of illness?"

"One even Tsunade-baa-chan has never seen. She was one of those hit the hardest. I am one of the rare few completely unaffected. Me and my nin animals were the only ones."

As she said nin animals, a red fox with a tomoe shaped mark on it's forehead appeared.

"_Yo. So you're the one Boss Kage always talks about,"_ said the fox.

"Hono, be nice."

"_I am bein' nice. I ain't calling him the other name Boss Kage calls him am I?"_ said Hono.

"What other name?"

"_Pervy Gramps."_

Itachi, when he heard that, choked back a laugh. He was one of the few who knew that the Third was an avid reader of Icha Icha.

"That reminds me. I have something to talk to you about old man, in private. Uncle 'Ruto said it was the best chance I had at finally taking the Jounin Exam," said Gale.

"You do realize that I would have great difficulty convincing the council in allowing those two back in the Outlying areas again, don't you?"

Gale bounced an odd ball that had been in her bag to reveal a few things. One was a scroll in a familiar handwriting addressed to the Hokage. Another scroll had a seal that read 'IMPORTANT DOCUMENTS, COPY IMMEDIATELY AND PUT INTO CIRCULATION!'. The third scroll was the one that caught his attention. It had all the markings of an S-rank mission.

"Inside are the mission parameters and the payment should it be successfully completed. Papa said this would convince you to let them go back to Tokyo long enough for whatever to cause the sickness back home to be reversed."

The Hokage read that scroll first.

"_**Mission Parameters: Restoration and reversal of mysterious illness caused by an aberration in the past.**_

_**Due to a certain anomaly, an illness caused by the past becoming out of sync with the future threatens everyone. If the Elemental Area is to survive, this anomaly must be corrected before the situation becomes permanent. The Chunin in charge of this mission shall be Gale Kushina Usagi Uchiha of Crystal Flame, or as it is known in the past, Konohagakure.**_

_**Should the mission be a success, Konoha would receive in payment several important items not limited to heirlooms of the Rikudo Sannin, vital documents pertaining to current events, and several missing weapons and/or scrolls that have been stolen by enemy nin during battle.**_

_**This is an S-rank mission on a Need-to-Know basis. No information about future events shall be spoken of unless it is absolutely necessary to correct this anomaly."**_

"So...you are a chunin?"

Gale reached into her bag and tossed him a rather thin BINGO Book.

_**Name:** Gale Uchiha_

_**Rank: **Chunin (Is considered S Rank Jounin)_

_**Age: **18+_

_**Gender: **Female_

_**Specialties:** Fuinjutsu, kenjutsu, Magic, and Summoning_

_**Ninja ID Number:** 7511255_

_**Elemental Affinities:** Wind, Light and Fire_

_**Known Aliases: **The Eternal Gale/Konoha's Timeless Wind_

_**Description:** For reasons unknown, Gale Uchiha appears to be around Nine years old, despite being well older than twice that. Any remarks made about her appearance is a sure fire way to anger her into killing the one who mentions it, usually in the most painful way possible. Like many of the recently restored Uchiha clan, Gale is a veritable prodigy of fire type jutsu, though she shares a similar chakra affinity to her Mother, the former ANBU commander Siren of the Seals._

_**Bounty: **1,750,000ryou if captured alive. 1,500,000 if delivered dead. Please note that those who have attempted to bring her in alive have all been killed by her Uncles and their associates._

The Hokage looked at the deceptively small girl with grayish black hair.

"How the hell are you a chunin with an S Ranking in the BINGO Book?!"

Gale cursed rather eloquently about the civilian council before she explained.

"Because of my family, I have been unofficially barred from taking the jounin exams in my time. All because of a law that had been in place before my mother took her true place in Konoha."

"What law?"

"Those with known royal blood can't be elevated higher than chunin unless there is a sufficient number of heirs available. And since I am their first born, I ended up getting the raw end of that deal," said Gale sourly.

Itachi winced. He had read about that law.

First born of a noble bloodline could become jounin if their status wasn't known to the shinobi forces. However if they were well known as nobles. Then they couldn't be raised higher than chunin because of the fact that jounin got killed in battle more often than random chunin did. It would be a cold day in hell before a noble managed to secure a jounin ranking, even with an S Class mark in the BINGO Book.

* * *

"This...This is...!" said the Hokage in awe.

Gale had undone one of the scrolls that she had brought thanks to some advice from her Uncle Naruto. When he heard where she was heading, and what time period, he had made a suggestion about how she could _finally _attain the jounin rank that she had been unfairly denied since she reached the appropriate skill levels centuries ago.

"I have up to volume thirty which is when the old Perv finally croaked. Took Uncle Naruto ten years to finally take over his godfather's legacy as a writer of porn, though his work doesn't suck half as much since he has someone to actually proofread for him."

"What do you want in exchange for lending me some of these?" asked the Hokage seriously, trying hard not to drool.

"I want to take the jounin exams. And if I pass you sign all the appropriate paperwork that labels me a jounin here in the past so the council in my time can't screw me over again simple because of who my parents are."

"Done. So if you earn a rank in the past you get to keep it in the future? Good to know."

"More like Uncle 'Ruto couldn't promote me because the council kept bitching about bias in the exams, and I can't take the thing outside the village because I am legally a Konoha citizen."

"He finally made Hokage?"

"Oh yes, and he never complains about the demonic paperwork that all the other Kages do."

The Kage looked at her with stars in his eyes.

"Tell me the secret! Please!"

Gale looked at him with a gleam in her eyes.

"Oh no, I'm saving that piece of bribery for something good if anything worth that secret ever comes up!" she smirked.

Her uncle Sasuke had taught her the fine art of blackmail and bribery since she was a genin. Centuries of experience had turned Gale Uchiha into a world class bitch when it came to getting what she wanted.

There was a reason why Anko Mitarashi (Who she called Aunty Anko to the woman's delight) had handed over her title as the T and I's Bitch Queen to the girl. And it wasn't because Gale was good at getting information from captured ninja.

Two weeks later, Gale was the proud and vindictive owner of a new Jounin vest. Years of being denied because of her heritage had angered her beyond belief, but she had at last earned her proper rank.

She couldn't wait to hear the council in her home timeline complain about the fact that she had found a loophole in the law. Oh how she was going to savor that moment!

* * *

Gale walked into what would become Crystal Tokyo and inspected the area with bored interest. It wasn't like her home at all, and the air was horrible.

She looked at her future mother.

"Would you be insulted if I said I was decidedly unimpressed with this place?"

Itachi snorted in amusement.

"Not in the least. It stinks to high heaven, killing is frowned upon, and people literally piss themselves whenever you up the KI to a certain level," said Itachi flatly.

"For the last time Itachi, Tokyo is a _civilian_ city!" she growled.

Father and daughter shared a look and said in unison "It reeks."

Usagi threw up her hands in exasperation. Thankfully she had enough sense of mind not to invite an Inuzuka with them, or she would have to hit the aspirin hard.

"So which way is the house?"

"Why do you want to know?" asked Usagi.

"Simple. I want to meet my twin sister that I was never allowed to see except through mirrors."

The two stopped and looked at her.

"Explain."

"Small Lady Serenity is my twin sister and I suspect the cause of my current inability to age properly. Because there is a subtle genjutsu on Crystal Tokyo, I was never allowed to meet her face to face except through mirrors, which we always spoke through written messages. Had either of us meet in our future timelines before this moment, the genjutsu would have broken and Neo Queen Serenity would have had a lot more trouble than she needed to rule," said Gale.

"What sort of genjutsu?" asked Itachi.

"The kind that made shinobi hidden from this side of the Elemental Areas. She apparently had to deal with a lot of fighting, and to insure no one questioned the fact that she was queen, she placed a genjutsu to keep the Elemental Areas away from her side. You agreed to it so long as she didn't try to enforce her rule on the shinobi and keep them from doing what they've always done," said Gale.

"So basically it was a way to keep the peace and prevent her from forcing the shinobi to stop killing each other on a regular basis."

"Pretty much. Aside from a few martial arts masters or monks, no one ever came from the Crystal Tokyo side of the Elemental Areas. Last I heard there was talk of the people being moved to a large side dimension so the two sides never met," said Gale.

"So how do you know about Small Lady?" asked Usagi.

"Simple. We met by accident in our mirrors and one she got over the shock we turned into best friends. Believe me, it was rather amusing to see the look on the Queen's face when she realized that you had a daughter the same age as hers. They allow it so long as the sides stay separate," said Gale.

"So why were they so shocked?"

"Something about a prophecy of mirror twins causing disaster if they met before the past and future converge. Pluto mentioned it and gave me a few odd looks after a while, but eventually she dropped it. Though she did at least warn me if Small Lady happened to be coming."

"Pluto?" asked Itachi.

"One of the Outer Senshi. They are the only ones allowed into the Elemental Areas simply because they guard from the outside-in, instead of protecting her directly. Though apparently they go through Pluto's gate first to keep the contamination from chakra to a minimum whenever they visit."

Itachi pinched the bridge of his nose.

"Exactly _how_ many girls are we talking about here?"

Gale counted on her fingers silently.

"Well, counting the Outers there should be at least nine. We never count outside Senshi," said Gale.

"Outside senshi?" said Itachi faintly.

"Each star system comes with their planetary senshi, though they rarely come to visit. When they do, they mostly come to see Mother instead of her past self, simply because they can relate to her better. Of the Outer Senshi, there are Pluto, Saturn, Neptune and Uranus. She loves coming over because she can beat anyone who makes fun of her senshi title up without worrying about Neo Queen Serenity complaining about it."

Itachi could see that one happening. Some of the Academy students used to bandy about really bad puns involving that planet.

* * *

Small Lady Serenity (or as she was now called by Mamoru her future father) Rini, looked at her twin sister in shock. For the first time in nine centuries, she could meet Gale Kushina Usagi Uchiha face to face without a mirror in the way.

So it was only natural that she tackle her fellow time traveler in a hug.

"Gale!"

"Hey Rini-chan. It's about time we got to meet."

Rini quickly told her other half about what happened in Crystal Tokyo, and Gale mentioned the illness that had spread like wildfire. Both events occurred within moments of their mother's being cocooned in crystal, seemingly in slumber.

Though apparently the ninja were more resilient to whatever the hell lay waste to almost all the civilians in Crystal Tokyo, because only a few of the older shinobi and civilians had died. Most of the shinobi in the Elemental Areas, even the weaker ones, were just really, really sick.

So far one of the senshi had been captured. Rei, the miko that had learned a lot of fire tricks from Itachi, had been taken by the same enemy that had appeared in Crystal Tokyo.

Fortunately since the house was in Usagi's name, no one questioned where the two little girls came from. Her parents were still watching over Naruto and the boys for them.

At least until they could claim that they were taking them on a year long training mission once they reached genin. After a brief discussion with the Hokage, he promised not to pair any of their fangirls with the boys.

At the rate they were going they would make an effective genin team all on their own.

"So Rini, do you have any aunts or uncles?" asked Usagi.

"No. The scouts act like big sisters, but they're often really busy."

"Too bad you couldn't come visit me. Uncle Sasuke and 'Ruto said they would love to show you a few tricks that even civilians could play on people," said Gale.

"That reminds me, who are your uncles Gale?"

"There's Uncle 'Ruto, the Hokage, Uncle Sasuke the best Kenjutsu master, and Uncle Sai, who doubles as the royal painter for whenever we want a portrait done. Those double as a defense in case of an invasion."

"Do you have any aunts?"

"Well, all of my uncles are married, though I can't tell you their names in case they try to meet them too early. But there is one aunt that I can speak of. Aunt Haku," said Gale.

"Haku?"

"A girl they rescued on their first C rank to Wave. They tried to spare her master, but he got killed before the other employer revealed that he was going to betray them anyway. Mother was the one to keep Aunt Haku from giving into her grief," said Gale.

"So what now?" asked Serenity. She had been living practically alone aside from a few clones that doubled as her parents to keep people off her back. For the past few weeks she had been alone, Luna and Artemis had moved the base to the basement, careful to leave the sealing array alone.

No one would think twice about teenage girls meeting their friends in a house, so it was the perfect base.

Though they still kept some of it under the game center as a back up.

* * *

Gale went with Ami to a girl who claimed that she could find anything. Ami wanted to find Rei and hoped the girl could help her.

However, mere moments upon meeting her, Gale went into battle mode. The girl was giving off some seriously _foul_ chakra, and she didn't want to be around when she got ready to fight.

"Ami, move!" cried Gale, pushing the girl out of the way.

She got hit, but it wasn't nearly as bad as it could have been.

"So...we have another Rabbit here?" said the girl sneering.

"Who are you?" demanded Gale. Serenity and Makoto came into the room, trying to help their friend.

"My name is Berthier!" she said.

Gale reached for her fox ball.

"_Kitsune Flame Magic!"_

With a poof of smoke, the ball turned into a mask. It resembled a kitsune mask one would find at festivals, though the coloration was primarily white and red.

"Mission, Start."

And with that, Gale vanished from the visible spectrum. Her speed was second to none, and the woman didn't stand a chance against her sword.

"Release Sailor Mercury and I won't take your head," said Gale coldly.

Berthier, realizing the small girl was a bigger threat than any scout, released Sailor Mercury before the girl could follow through. At the very least the scout wouldn't be fighting for a few weeks after the damage she had dealt.

Berthier vanished before the girl could injure her further, though not before she took a good long look at her face.

Gale was a much better fighter than Rabbit.


End file.
